Sunlight and Shadow
by lyrainthedark
Summary: For Dokuga Contest's Seven Treasure's Challenge: Sesshomaru is the Pirate King, buried in boredom and wealth. On the prompting of a dream, he will journey across the sea - seeking a woman, who may be the rarest treasure of all.
1. The Pirate King

- _Seven Treasures Challenge -_

I

**The Pirate King**

He sat on an elaborate throne in an elaborate room. Dark paneled walls shimmered with gilding; piles of discarded treasures lay strewn about among tarnished chests of silver and sea-stained chests of heavy wood. All of them overflowed with tribute, piles of gold and jewels enough to be the ransom for many warlords and kings.

He was Sesshomaru, the Pirate King, ruler of many islands, rich beyond imagining. He was powerful, and deadly...and _bored_.

He dangled his golden crown idly on the tip of one clawed finger; stared dispassionately out the window toward the sea.

_Something...I need...to do **something**..._

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><p>Word Count: 100<p>

Prompt: Gold

A/N: Lilli inspired me with her attack on this challenge, and then inspired me again with this random plunnie...anyway, this happened. Sesshomaru, Kaizoku no Ou! Onward!

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	2. Through The Leaves Of The Night

_- Seven Treasures Challenge -_

II

**Through the Leaves of the Night **

Sesshomaru slept that night in the shape of the Beast that lurked within him.

His various captains and servants scattered as he transformed, and the great golden-eyed Inuyoukai padded in a circle, marking out its spot in the center of the throne room. Instead of going to his usual chambers, he curled up and slept in the middle of the vast hall.

None dared come near during the night; Sesshomaru twitched and growled as he slept, and the hall echoed with terrible rumblings. He was dreaming, of the hunt and of the ocean; of pathless forests and a lingering aroma of light – of white-crested waves and dark water...of the smell of the sea, the salt-strong sea...

He knew this dream; it ended, _always_, with a woman. A beautiful woman, with long black hair and luminous skin...a woman whose single eye stared at him unflinchingly, a stare of endless blue.

When he woke, it was with that stare on his mind. Suddenly, he knew what he would do. He would go out onto the sea, a mere captain once more, his fate and fortune tied to wind and waves.

He would go, and search for the woman; the woman of the lapis lazuli eye.

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><p>Word Count: 200<p>

Prompt: Lapis Lazuli

A/N: Chapter two, finished! The Pirate King dreams of a woman...hmm...who could _she_ be, I wonder? Oh! And the title of this chapter is from a poem by Pablo Neruda, from his "Sonnet XXI". Great guy; check him out! :D

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	3. No Rest For The Wicked

_- Seven Treasures Challenge -_

IV

**No Rest For The Wicked**

_Ship's Log, Lady of Mercy_

_Fifth month, eighth day_

_**Have been becalmed for three days now; I will forever be grateful to mama for insisting we bring extra water casks on board. Miroku is no longer allowed to choose targets, **_**or****_ steer. Sango has been beating the idea of trade winds into him every night before bed. _**

_**I don't think there's much chance he'll remember that way, but if it makes her happy..**._

_Ship's Log, Lady of Mercy_

_Fifth month, twelfth day_

_**Got underway and headed east, back to the main routes and steady winds. We're seeking clear blue water now, warmer temperatures and old, hidden reefs. **_

_**If any of the rumors Miroku or Inuyasha collected are true, the south-east is our best chance – and I can't forget, either, what the old woman in Edo said: "The blue-flower coral blossoms once under the white moon and once under the black moon. Gather it in the white moon to heal your mother – and remember, if you wait even a single night too long-"**_

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><p><em>Ship's Log, Fang of Heaven<em>

_Fifth month, ninth day_

**Set sail from Edo; no one important knows. Anonymity – for the first time in one hundred and fifty years, I am free. **

**I heard rumors of a great treasure being offered by a Priestess, for a single polyp of blue-flower coral. **

**Would it not be the height of irony if I, the Pirate King, were to claim such a prize? **

_Ship's Log, Fang of Heaven_

_Fifth month, thirteenth day_

**I dreamt of the woman; the blue-eyed woman. Is she an omen, a premonition? Or is she just a dream? **

**I know only that the nights that I dream of her are the nights I know I am going the right way.**

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><p>Word Count: 300<p>

Prompt: Coral

A/N: So, to make this clear: Kagome's the Captain of _Lady of Mercy_; most of our old friends are in her crew. Sesshomaru's the Captain of _Fang of Heaven_; he's got random Inuyoukai for a crew.


	4. Because Love Battles

_- Seven Treasures Challenge -_

IV

**Because Love Battles**

Sesshomaru peered forward, breathing deeply, cutting the dawn with gleaming eyes. There was a ship on the horizon, a ship flying black pennants marked with a skull holding a blade in its teeth. He could barely make out her name: _Lady of Mercy_.

Sesshomaru felt an odd tightening in his chest, then shook it off and called back over his shoulder.

"After that ship!"

Wood creaked in response to his command; his crew ran back and forth, climbing into the rigging, working sails with expert eyes and economy of motion. Time seemed to slow as they sped across the surface of the water and entered firing range.

Sesshomaru kept his eyes focused on the ship, close before them now.

A smirk, distorted his features for the briefest instant – and then he saw fire out of the corner of his eye, a torch lighting a canon's wick, and returned his attention to the battle.

"No! Hold!"

He watched a hand dart out and tamp the lit wick that hovered at the edge of his vision.

"We'll catch them broadside as they turn to fire and board us. Scent that wind? Humans and hanyou, no youkai. Raise no flag; shoot no weapon; we will take them by surprise."

There was a murmur, and then a cheer of agreement. It looked to be a rich day...and an ambush was always entertaining.

Sesshomaru waited, crouched low on the deck, his hand tight on his sword. The other pirate vessel was doing exactly as he had expected; coming towards them head on..they would turn at the last moment, and out with their grappling hooks.

One hundred yards...fifty...twenty..ten...

And then he froze, staring at a single person standing on the prow of the oncoming ship. It was _her; h_is blue-eyed woman. She was _here -_

He heard a shout in a woman's voice, and a thud on a deck beside him that was quickly followed by the ring of steel. He parried her thrust instinctively, and only then did he blink, looking at her again.

Her fury was a fire that shone like agate; her power was obvious to him now, the flux of holy light a bright aura around her blade.

"Miko...you are a _miko_."

He saw fear in her face suddenly, and knew that she had been hiding her power. Why would she do that?

_What is your secret, little miko?_

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><p>Word Count: 400<p>

Prompt: Agate

A/N: I searched agate when I was contemplating this prompt, and found _fire agate_ – gorgeous stuff, it glows red and orange and shifts under the light like a flickering fire.


	5. Between The Shadow And The Soul

_- Seven Treasures Challenge -_

V

**Between the Shadow and the Soul**

For a full five minutes, the woman managed to match blades with Sesshomaru, thrust for thrust, bright holy power against dark burning youki. She could not be a match for his strength or his speed – he _knew_ that – and yet it was hard to believe, fighting against her.

She wielded a rapier with a sharp, thin edge; a light weapon, but deadly in close quarters; an elegant weapon, but one that could be used for messy work. Her long hair moved this way and that as she dodged and twisted away from his sword, and he saw that her left eye was covered by a patch; the right glowed lapis-blue, distinctive, unmistakable.

He watched the flow of her movements as he deflected her blows; twice she surprised him and nearly drew blood, but he drew back at the last moment and her blade sliced through his shirt. With a quick, fluid motion he brought his sword up, and then drew in a breath; she had stepped forward, and almost impaled her head on his sword.

Instead she turned, and the blade of his katana severed a few strands of hair and the cord holding on her eye-patch.

He was stunned when she looked back at him, not out of one eye but out of _two_. The eye that had been covered was _silver_, reflective; the asymmetry of her stare drew him in.

_She_ was stopped by her own power; by the ability of the eye she kept covered to see into the soul, to see a true desire – to see all hidden things.

In the pirate that faced her she _saw_ suddenly the most unexpected of things, a desire that she herself possessed: what she saw when she looked into the mirror. She spoke; she could not help it – the truth compelled her.

"You are like me! You want to live; to _be_, unrestrained, to hover at the apex of each moment. And yet...you are tired – of being alone. You want...to be unique, without being singular; you want to share your beating heart..."

Her breath ran out, and she stopped. Sesshomaru stared at her, ignoring the sounds of battle around them as they slowed and came to a halt.

"My dreams were an unerring guide across trackless seas, though I know not how, nor why...I do not care. I have found you, now. I _will_ keep you - "

And then he stopped, and turned and pointed to his cabin. The door hung open on its hinges; there was a shuffling of feet as the members of both crews moved back and out of the way, aware that something strange was happening.

Inside, Sesshomaru stared at the woman with an unfathomable expression on his face.

"What is your name, priestess?"

She returned his stare unblinkingly, without fear.

"I am Kagome, and you know that I am a miko. I am the daughter of the Higurashi family, and the maiden of my grandfather's shrine."

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><p>Word Count: 500<p>

Prompt: Silver


	6. The Laughter of Prodigal Light

_- Seven Treasures Challenge -_

VI

**The Laughter of Prodigal Light**

Sesshomaru eyed the woman, Higurashi Kagome. He knew that family, that name.

"Your _grandfather's _shrine?"

"Yes. Recently, my grandfather placed a large bounty on a polyp of -"

"I know of this, miko."

He saw that she was disturbed by this statement.

"You...you do?"

"Yes. I have heard many men discussing a great bounty, placed on a polyp of blue-flower coral. An item of great rarity. Tell me, Kagome..."

His voice lingered on her name, caressing it.

"Why so reticent now? On deck you spoke of my _beating heart _-"

Purposefully, he injected venom into his voice...and was surprised by her reaction.

"You're no real pirate!"

She laughed, a sound like quartz bells.

Sesshomaru shook his head, wondering at her; at how she blossomed when he provoked her.

"You are wrong, Kagome."

He stepped toward her, looming over her - small, human, vulnerable by nature.

"I am Sesshomaru; I am the Pirate King! Are you not afraid? I am a demon; I am the lord of a terrible host -"

Her fingers reached out, no trembling in them. She touched the marks on his cheeks, stroked them, felt the smoothness of his skin. Against his own will, he sucked in a gasp of breath.

Her fingers were cool against his face.

"Sesshomaru...the Pirate King. I'm sure mama would like to meet you; grandfather will _hate_ you, but perhaps he will be happy enough to see me that it won't matter."

She leaned closer to him, and stood on the tips of her toes.

"What I said on the deck means that I have been waiting for you...since..._forever_."

She brushed her lips, warm and delicate, across his lips – and then looked at him with great and sudden humor in her mismatched eyes.

"Should I call you my lord, Pirate King? Or did you forget that _I_ am a pirate too?"

For eight days after that, they sailed together toward unknown reefs in coastal waters, _Fang of Heaven_ leading across the dark ocean, _Lady of Mercy _following behind.

The first three days, Kagome stayed on her own ship, treading the water of her thoughts, making decisions. She had kissed Sesshomaru at the instigation of her instincts, but the experience had been...exhilarating, made her heart race the way it did when she in combat.

The second three days, Kagome spent on _Fang of Heaven_, telling Sesshomaru her tales – the long closed-in future of life as a shrine maiden, the dark days of purity and abstinence from which she had run away. She told him of her first ship, and working as a cabin boy under the shroud of her prepubescence. She told him of discovery and her first kill, made in the dark; of learning, from that day forward, the arts of the sword.

She told him of taking her first captaincy at the point of her blade, and then she sat back, and listened as Sesshomaru reciprocated. He gave her more than she had expected – more truth, more history, more time, more intimate details. She learned of his birth in the era of war between men and demons; she learned of the death of his father, the destruction of his inheritance, the blazing fires of youki and holy power...

And she learned of the sea, of the call that pulled him out of the burned memories of his father's lands and onto the tides and the ripples and the endless encircling waves.

The final two days, she remained beside him, caught up in the burning tremors of his love.

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><p>Word Count: 600<p>

Prompt: Crystal

A/N: Have you ever heard a quartz bell? Me neither :p But wow, I love metaphors! :D :D And man, did that one give me no rest! Oh- and yes, this title is yet another quote from Pablo Neruda – Sonnet # 51 this time :D Only one chapter left!

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	7. Beyond Earth And Shadow

_-Seven Treasures Challenge -_

VII

**Beyond Earth and Shadow**

On the evening of the tenth day, they found a deserted islet with sands that wavered hot and black and glittering in the twilight. The waters nearby wore a blue hue even in darkness and there, on the reefs in warm shallows, Sesshomaru's sharp eyes spotted the blue-flower coral.

They dove for it under the light of the full moon; in Kagome's hands, the violent vibrance of her power intersected with the pale blue polyp of coral, and became a hard, dark shell holding a glowing blue elixir.

Her voice was quiet in the dark.

"This will heal her; my mother..."

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><p>In the morning, they left for Edo; it was raining. The rain followed them across the sea, at times a faint and refreshing shower, at times a raging tempest. They ran before the wind with their sails straining; behind them, <em>Lady of Mercy <em>followed as she was able.

Watching Kagome's concern, her intense concentration as she guided them into her home waters, he wondered what it was that was about to happen -

But the reunion that he escorted her to was nothing like he imagined.

Kagome waited in the courtyard, in the rain. Sesshomaru stood ten steps behind her,watching an old man make his way slowly out to greet her.

"Kagome...little one, you have grown up."

"Yes, grandfather. Here."

Sesshomaru watched her hand over the vial of priceless elixir; the old man handled it with urgent delicacy. His umbrella fell and lay untended on the ground.

"Kagome, Kagome! Where did you get this?"

Sesshomaru had never seen a smile so tender on her face as he did then.

"I _made_ it. You were wrong, grandfather. Wrong about _everything_. But it's okay."

She was at the gate before Sesshomaru knew it; her voice came to him, carefree and clear.

"Are you coming with me, Inu mine?"

"Always."

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><p>The seas were wide and vast and open, and time was a precious thing to them both; to Kagome, for her life was short, burdened by a mortal frailness – to Sesshomaru, because he was, if anything, more aware of that than she was.<p>

In battle, he protected her, despite her skill; for twenty years, they lived and loved and fought and bled together, excelling at great and mysterious tasks.

She would not let him take her as a mate; as she grew older, she saw in him the signs of continuing youth far past what his flesh alone showed. It would be hundreds of years before he was ready to be bonded; hundreds of years, before such a claim could be tied to his life.

When she disappeared, it was not unexpected; it was the thing he had been expecting ever since she drifted into his life on the tendrils of a dream.

She took with her only three things that had tied his life together; her rapier, Bakusaiga, jeweled and lovely, infused with his own youki: a weapon to protect. Their daughter – their only child, the child of their love, more beautiful than any gem, more deadly than any weapon.

"And you took my haori, precious woman; you took it, why? Why, if you meant to leave me behind?"

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><p><em>At night, Sesshomaru, the Pirate King, dreams of a woman and a girl. <em>

_He dreams of a girl, who grows to be a woman – a woman of one blue eye and one golden, a woman of power, and presence; "I want to be a Pirate_"_, she says, and he knows her for his own daughter. _

_He dreams of a woman, and her hair turns the color of pearls; he dreams of a woman who lays by the sea with her arms outstretched, holding an old haori close in her arms. He dreams of the woman, and loves her still, though he knows now why she left: _

_It was not yet time; she will wait, as he is waiting, for another moment and another time. There is a forever just waiting to happen – what is true always seeks the light._

_**And she took our daughter...and my haori...and...the sword...**_

_At night, Sesshomaru, the Pirate King, dreams of a woman, and a girl._

_And he **smiles**_...

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><p>Word Count: 700<p>

Prompt: Pearl

A/N: I did it, I did it, yaaaay! Seven chapters, and it's actually finished! Oh I'm so happy now! :D

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